


The Library

by plus_minus



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-12 20:10:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4493073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plus_minus/pseuds/plus_minus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Kefka's defeat, the city of Vector was reduced to ruins. Within those ruins, a library remained intact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have edited the prologue and first chapter of this work in order to fix some inconsistencies (or future ones). Thanks for reading.

Writing letters and reports was probably the least favorite part of her job, but as General Celes Chere sat inside the barracks by the furnace, she was at least thankful that she wasn't outside. Narshe was cold. Celes disliked the stiffness and stinging pain that came with frostbite, and thus had a newfound respect for those that lived in climates like the one in Narshe.

Every time she thought something about how frigid it was outside, she felt inane. Of course Narshe was cold, it was high up in the mountains. But, in fairness, before arriving in the mountains near Narshe, she couldn't remember what the sensation of being frostbitten actually felt like. Now that she knew, she wished she hadn't. The last time she had actually known the sensation of being cold was when she was a child, thanks to the magic that she was infused with at a young age. Immunity to feeling cold was one of the many perks, which also included enhanced physical performance and the ability to learn and cast magic. While she was told these things by her mentors growing up, she didn't realize the true extent of her magical powers until magic was forced out of the world. While the extinction of magic was directly correlated with Kefka's death, which brought much relief to Celes, it also brought changes to her that she didn't like much. She realized that life without magic made her more weak. She found she could no longer match or outperform the effort of men in her regiment for physical tasks, as she used to do all the time in the Imperial Army.

But what did it matter? She had work to do, and she needed to focus on that, instead of thinking about things that couldn't be changed. She had to make a report to King Edgar ("King" was a title that she still had to adjust to using, even though it was only for formal situations) detailing the status of the wild beasts in Narshe. The General estimated that it would be another month before she and her men cleared the town of any dangers. Currently, there was a whopping population count of 2 people: a weapons smith and a town elder.

Just as she was almost done writing the report, there was a knock on the door. When she opened it, a hairy, snow-covered, behemoth stumbled in. Well, it looked like a hairy behemoth, but underneath all of the fur clothing was a young soldier. The soldier uncovered the scarf from his face, which revealed a nose slightly too large for his face, a face that was red from the cold, along with had slightly chapped lips. The soldier took a short bow before addressing her, customary of Figaroan culture. "General Chere, ma'am, I hope this day finds you well."

She bowed slightly in reply. "Yes, it does. And I hope it finds you well, sir."

"Oh, please forgive me for not introducing myself," the soldier apologized. "I am Private Trill and I come from the Crine regiment. My crew is the one delivering the supplies to your company. They are being delivered to the mines as we speak. But I have something for you, General. It's a letter from Chancellor Bizzi."

She wondered briefly why they had sent her a mere private with an official report from the Chancellor...were they trying to insult her? However, she quickly dismissed those thoughts. Over-thinking bureaucratic games would not be productive. The soldiers of Figaro respected her, and even feared her a bit. Maybe they just happened to assign a group of Privates the responsibility of shipping supplies. Maybe their leader was hurt, or worse, had died on the journey to Narshe. She grasped the sealed envelope with one hand. "Thank you, Private. Would you like some tea? Please, warm yourself by the furnace."

 "Thank you, General." She took the kettle off of the furnace and poured him some boiling water, placing several tea leaves in a cup. Then, taking the letter, she sat at her desk and read:

_Dear General Chere,_

_As you know, I am currently heading the project of the excavation of Kefka's Tower. What you may not know is this: some of the ruins at the base are still navigable. The workers have discovered what is probably the remains of the royal library. Unfortunately, as nobody here is educated in the old and new languages of Vector, we need someone of your knowledge to help organize these books to help decide where they should be shipped off to. It will probably take a fortnight to complete the task._

_Please do not feel required to do this. If you do not have any interest in this, I would be willing to search for another person to accomplish this task. However, if you accept the job, please depart for the Southern Continent the day after you receive this. You will receive a more thorough debriefing here._

_Sincerely,_  
_Errol Bizzi_  
_Chancellor_  
_The Kingdom of Figaro_

Yes, Celes had heard about this. The last time she saw him, Chancellor Bizzi had mentioned the project to search for usable materials at the ruins of Kefka's Tower. Since most of Kefka's Tower were ruins of Vector, there was plenty of reusable materials to be found there. And since the rest of the world was still recovering from the Cataclysm, they were short on manpower. The supplies would be of much use to all of the nations of the world, which could finally start to repair buildings without fearing more destruction from Kefka's harsh powers.

"Private Trill, when do you depart for your return to Figaro?"

"Um, we leave tomorrow at 0700 hours, General Chere."

"Good. I shall depart with you." She noticed his hand was still shaking the tea cup. Celes figured it was because he was cold. Most Figaroan men were not accustomed to the frigid temperatures of Narshe, as they did most of their military training in the heat of the desert.

"Y-y-yes ma'am." Private Trill eagerly stood up to salute her. He had forgotten to put his cup down, so half of his tea flew out of his cup and onto the floor in the process. "M-m-ma'am I'm so sorry, allow me to clean that up for you."

Celes scoffed audibly. When she had realized this, she had hoped it wasn't loud enough for the Private to hear. "It's fine, it will be no trouble for me to take care of it. I need to clean this office up if I am to make my way south." She raised her hand and arm in a classic salute. "You are dismissed. Please let your crew know they shall report here at 0700 hours."


	2. Chapter 1

Celes was lost after she and thirteen other Returners defeated Kefka. She had just begun to consider that group of people family when they all headed their separate ways, either spending their days doing something that was important to them, or beginning to fix up the towns or countries that were significant to them. All of them had their purpose, she felt, except for her. Her home city, and the surrounding fifty miles, were ruins. The military which she had served in for most of her teenage years was completely wiped out. When Edgar had offered her a position as a general in the Figaroan Army, she almost felt like she had no choice but to say yes. After all, the military was the only career she was skilled in.

She spent the first three months at Figaro Castle, understanding the culture of her men and familiarizing herself with everything that was different: the weapons, armor, routines, and rules. During that time, the New World Counsel, a committee formed of all the major world leaders, realized that re-establishing a colony at Narshe would be helpful to the world. This was mostly because of the large beds of coal buried within the mountains. Most sections of the mines were still functional, if only they could be cleared of the remaining beasts. Since Celes had been to Narshe several times, Edgar recommended to the counsel that she be the one to head the project. The rest agreed, since Figaro was sending the most soldiers to the abandoned colony. Thus, she and one-hundred men were shipped up to Narshe.

Celes didn't dislike the job, but tired of it easily. Progress was slow because the snow was falling more than usual for that time of year. She was impatient with herself because of her diminishing ability to fight and her sudden aversion of the snow and all things cold. She was pleased to be working in an army that was less violent and callous than the Imperial Army, but deep down she had an insatiable curiosity to see the ruins of her home city. She had heard rumors of what she assumed to be her favorite library being intact, and wondered if she could once again find the books she had cherished as a child. Thus, she made arrangements to leave her post at Narshe and head south to join Chancellor Bizzi.

It took Celes, along with the company that had delivered supplies to her at Narshe, slightly over two weeks to travel to what used to be Vector. Except for a detour to Figaro Castle to pick up supplies, they had spent most of their time traveling. Celes was traveling with the company of fifteen Privates, along with their leader, Lieutenant Dorano. Their company had been ordered to pick up several crates of tools at the castle and take them to the ruins. The weather was fine for travelling, so travelling by boat and chocobo did not take longer than expected.

\---

"Hey there, stranger. How're ya doing? The trip over here go alright?"

Knowing Locke, Celes wasn't exactly surprised that he was the first one to greet her upon her arrival at the excavation site. Before Celes had left Figaro Castle, Edgar had jokingly warned that where there was treasure, one would find Locke; it was as if he could smell it in the air from miles away. Unbeknownst to Celes, the King of Figaro had already approved Locke's work at Kefka's ruined tower. He had informed Chancellor Bizzi weeks ago that if that former Returner contact of his were to show up, to allow him to help explore the remains of Kefka's tower. Although Locke would not be officially a part of the project, Edgar mused that he could probably have some use, as long as he didn't hoard anything valuable for himself.

"Well, considering I don't have problems with sea-sickness, I'd say things went well, thank you." She smiled slightly as she guided the chocobo she had rented from Tzen to the makeshift stables at the encampment. A stable boy took the reins from her. It was a well-tempered chocobo, unlike other in the past, so she was a little sad to see it go.

"Ouch, thanks for the not-so-subtle reminder. Hey, it's not my fault that I can't take a boat without puking my guts out. Did they teach you humor over there in the Figaroan Army?" He chuckled.

Celes said nothing in reply but instead turned to Private Trill, who was about to walk away from the stables after roping up his own chocobo. She took on a more professional tone as she gave him orders. "Private Trill, please let my regiment know I'd like only a scrub tent pitched for my sleeping quarters. And please, if you would, make sure that my supplies are brought to wherever you place my tent." Trill reddened as he muttered a quiet affirmative as a response, "Those supplies are in the caravan. If anyone has any questions, I will be with Chancellor Bizzi or in our encampment. Those are my last orders to you. Lieutenant Dorano will be receiving orders from Major General Gorian shortly about your next assignment. Take care, Private. You are dismissed."

"Y-y-yes, General, ma'am. Um, you take care, too." He bowed quickly and left.

Locke waited for the young private to be out of earshot before he burst out laughing. "Shit, Celes, tell a guy who is attracted to you to go pitch you a tent to sleep in, and he'll go pitch a tent in two ways, if ya know what I mean...what the hell is a scrub tent, anyways?"

Celes did not appreciate Locke's bawdy humor in the least bit, but was more embarrassed by her ignorance. Was she so dense she couldn't figure out Trill's attractions on her own? She had spent two weeks with him, and Locke had seen the man for two minutes. Thinking back, of course, it made sense that he was attracted to her. During their travels, he was always stuttering and looking nervous in conversations. If Locke could tell just from one meeting, Trills' peers must have known that he liked her. And after observing the dynamic between Trill and the other men in his company...chances are they had forced him into delivering those orders alone at Narshe, egging him on the ways guys tended to do.

"A 'scrub tent' is just a nickname for what they call the standard military-issue tent, I prefer to sleep in that one as opposed to the overly-spacious officer's tent," she paused before scoffing. "Well, I guess some men just have trouble keeping their professionalism." While she took pride in her military career, she strongly disliked dealing with the innate lust of men in the army. She had never before dealt with anything inappropriate in the Figaroan military, but based on past experiences, she wasn't surprised. It was only a matter of _when_ , not _if._

"And who could blame us? Us men, ya know, we're animals. Around pretty women we fall apart." Locke shrugged with his palms open and eyebrows raised as if to say, _Hey, don't blame me_.

 _Oh great_ , Celes thought, now _he_ was flirting with her. It wasn't necessarily the first time this kind of thing had happened. However, that was the last thing she wanted right now; she didn't want to waste her time on frivolous matters such as these, as she had a to meet with Chancellor Bizzi. She crossed her arms. "Wow, I didn't know Edgar was here," she shot back dryly. "Look, I was told to meet with Chancellor Bizzi upon my arrival, so I'm heading over to his tent now to discuss matters with him."

"Okay, but you should know that the food I've made's been ready for a half hour, and it's about to get cold! How about you go to him now, but save your little meeting for after dinner? Come on, you need a good meal in you," Locke laughed. "Tell him that you're famished and you wouldn't have the energy to say another word without having some of world-famous chef Locke Cole's beef stew."

"It shouldn't be a long meeting." Celes actually had no idea how long it would be, but wanted the conversation to end so she wouldn't have to keep the Chancellor waiting.

"Alright, fine. The stew and I are going to be waiting over there." He pointed to a off-white tent near a small fire going about a quarter mile away. "So just come on over when you're ready."

\---

"Chancellor Bizzi, always a pleasure." Celes bowed briefly as she addressed the man robed in blue and gold. He was kneeling by a small wooden table inside his tent. As standard for all higher-up officials, the Chancellor's tent was a wide octagonal structure held up by several wooden posts. This gave plenty of room for the chancellor's two tables, sleeping mat, and various other supplies.

The chancellor was a second king to Figaro. While Edgar did do a fair amount of diplomatic work, it was an open secret that the chancellor did more, as chancellors were historically expected to do. After all, the position of chancellor was earned, not inherited. Errol Bizzi had overlooked the kingdom when Edgar had joined the Returners full time, and helped to maintain it before and after the king left. Now that Edgar had returned to work in his kingdom, the chancellor was an obvious choice to lead the excavation project, the New World Council decided. It would be a time-consuming job to allocate the resources fairly between nations, but the King of Figaro was more than confident enough that his right-hand man would do a fine job.

"As the same goes for you, General Chere. Please, take a place at my table," he gestured to a cushion placed on the opposite end of the table. Kneeling in her leather armor and chainmail wouldn't be too comfortable for Celes, as she knew the links in her chainmail would eventually dig through her long underpants and into her skin. But she did it anyway because it would have been rude to refuse an offer from a superior. Celes noticed that the table was covered by two maps. One seemed to be the map of the local terrain overlaid with a crude sketch of the ruins, from the perspective of in the sky looking down. The other appeared to be a floor plan of the tower's remaining floors.

"Your long journey deserves some rest, so I promise not to keep you too long. Would you like some lemon tea?"

"Yes, I would, thank you."

"Excellent," He poured her a cup, then after putting the kettle down he clasped both hands together. "I know you are one to get right to business, General, so let us do just that. Now as you might have noticed, I have the maps detailing the area around the tower. Our group of engineers found that the tower fell in such a way that the three remaining floors were stable. You won't have to worry about the floors caving in. I'm sure you already understand this is all because floors left standing make up most of the building that is the original royal library?"

"Yes, I could see that from the moment I first saw it, even though I this is the first time I have seen the base of the tower so closely." The Returner party had "entered" the tower from the middle floor, thanks to the use of pulleys and Setzer's airship the _Falcon_. Celes herself remembered the tower as more of a conglomeration of ruins than a formal thirty (give or take) floor tower. During her travels, though, she had been able to get a good look at the tower from afar. From the beginning, it was clear that it was held together by magic: how else could pieces of the Imperial palace have stood upon remains of the Magitek Factory, which had been on top of the royal library? The falling apart of the tower, coinciding with the quelling of magic from their world, had only confirmed these suspicions.

"However, the one issue is the makeshift ceiling over the third floor of the library. When we found the ruins, about half of the ceiling on that level was gone, and we did lose a group of books to what seemed to be water damage. The men reinforced the remaining part of the ceiling so it wouldn't crumble. We have placed a canopy over it, but we are not sure how long that will be efficient at keeping rain out of the library. You shall see it for yourself tomorrow. I'd like you to start your work on that floor just in case anything else unfortunate would occur. The men have done a fine job of cleaning the inside of the library from debris, but haven't done a thorough check. I would hope that the only complaint you will have is about the dust, and I'm sure that you understand as to why that would not be a priority for us. There is much larger debris for us to worry about around here," he chuckled before he took a sip of his tea." By the way, how familiar were you with the royal library at Vector?"

"I did go there often, about once every week. It was accessible to only the elite, such as scholars and high-ranking officials. Because of my status within the military as a prodigy, I was allowed in my entire life." She pictured an early memory of hers: Cid holding her hand, smiling, walking up the steps to the entrance to find books to read. "I know that the first and second floors were dedicated to historical and informational books, and the top floor was the section for fictional literature. I didn't read much from the first two floors, only what my private tutors gave me to read from."

"I see.  Do you know if there are any classified materials that would be of any interest?"

She thought for a moment, trying to find the proper words. "I don't believe they had classified materials stored in the library. Anything classified was probably kept in its respective departments. Or it was given to the necessary officials in their offices. I've never been in the office, I don't know if there's anything important in there. I will be sure to check. But I'm sure those documents would have been stored somewhere else." It went without saying that any of those documents were more than likely lost forever.

"I understand. So, I'm assuming you won't need an intense overview of the layout? It's simple enough." Chancellor Bizzi scratched his graying moustache.

Celes nodded. "Yes, Chancellor. If I can study the floor plan for a couple of minutes I will be fine."

"Well, here is a copy of the floor plan." He handed her a bound up scroll. "I'd like you to look these over before you start the work tomorrow morning. You are to start to organize the materials on the second floor. We have crates set up, and we want them grouped by genre. If the book has a description, that is what you must translate, but if not, translate the title and state what kind of book it is. The books in Common should just be organized, as we can already read those. We will be happy to give you any supplies you need, but we should have left enough for you in the center of the first floor. Do you have any questions? I doubt you will have any problems, but if you do, please do not hesitate to seek me out."

"Thank you, Chancellor. If you don't mind me asking, where will the books go once I organize them?"

"Ah, yes I forgot. We'll ship the ones with potentially important information to Albrook. There's an elder there, I believe his name is Erdish, that is willing to translate the most important ones. He was too old to make the trip here, so that's why we preferred you doing this. We haven't decided where the rest of the books will go. Is there anything else?"

"I think that covers everything, thank you."

"Alright, then. Thank you, General Chere. Have a pleasant evening."

\---

After meeting with the Chancellor, Celes, along with her very empty stomach, set off to find Locke. It was slightly overwhelming trying to find him again as Locke's tent and campfire was one of many. It didn't help that every man she passed stared at her. There were about a couple hundred of workmen there, hailing from every region of the world.

Most of those men were there to excavate the ruin. There were cooks, guards, and world leaders to oversee the project. The physical laborers worked day in and day out in the heat salvaging any useful materials, which would be split amongst the remaining territories around the world. There was no shortage of metal and stone that needed to be evaluated, moved and shipped out, so they would be working for at least a few more weeks.

She eventually found Locke over by the Figaro encampment. The two of them talked casually over dinner. It had been about nine months since they had seen the other, so they had some catching up to do. Locke asked Celes about her duties as a general of Figaro. She explained that except for her brief assignment training soldiers and organizing guard duty shifts, she had mostly been trying to clear up Narshe. The only danger involved were the beasts, which were not as dangerous now that magic no longer existed in the world. Anyways, the fighting was usually handled by her men and not by her. Locke, of course, had been up to his usual treasure hunting. He had found a some ancient burial caves in the southern continent and made good money selling the jewelry he found in them. As soon as he had heard about the excavation of Kefka's Tower, he showed up. He wanted a piece of the action- and he was curious what artifacts the remainder of Vector had to offer. For about two weeks he had helped the workers organize debris outside the tower into the three main piles: stone, metal, and miscellaneous. Upon hearing this, Celes had teased him about finally doing honest work for once in his life, but Locke didn't mention that there was no choice in the matter. The treasure hunter had only helped with the physical work because he wasn't permitted to poke around inside the library...not yet, at least. He and the Chancellor had agreed that he'd do that when Celes arrived.

They had also traded bits of information about what their former comrades were doing. Celes had been keeping up with a few of them from postal correspondence. Terra, of course, had been taking care of her children in Mobliz. She, Duane, and Katarin were trying hard to establish stable living for their family. The long term plan was rebuilding the town for other families as well. Edgar had been doing just fine back at the helm of Figaro, and in the New World Council he was a key player in working with other countries to get the world back on its feet again. His twin brother, Sabin, had opened his own martial arts school, training students near South Figaro.

Celes had heard from Edgar that Cyan had been gathering up people from and rebuilding several villages in the kingdom from Doma. Cyan also kept in close touch with Gau, who was back to roaming free on the Veldt. She had also heard that Relm had decided to move back in with Strago while still pursuing a career as a painter. She would have made more money if she was still in Jidoor working under Owzer, but Relm would rather help care for her grandfather. Due to his old age, he had been feeling physically worsened by the absence of magic. Locke had seen Setzer a couple of times on the Southern Continent. He had opened a casino on the Falcon and it was gaining prominence, since people were starting to feel safe enough to start enjoying extravagant things again.

(Neither of them spoke about the fact that they had lost two of their more mysterious comrades those two days at Kefka's Tower: Shadow and Gogo. They were presumed dead, as they disappeared during the escape from the collapsing tower. It was sad, yes, but neither of the two had developed enough of a relationship with either for it to be considered tragic.)

"May I ask you a question?" Celes asked once they were done discussing old friends.

"Yeah, sure. What's on your mind?" Locke absentmindedly picked at his fingernails, removing dirt and debris from underneath.

"Well, what will you be working on tomorrow?"

"Well, first, I guess I'll do my own little searching for treasures inside the library, but my part of the bargain with the Chancellor is to help you organize your books," he grinned."Aren't you so lucky?"

Celes returned a slight smile of her own. "Yes, it's such an honor." While her reply was sarcastic, deep down she knew that the library was full of several hundred books. She genuinely appreciated the offer of help.

The conversation then lulled. Celes couldn't help but study the crumbled remains of Kefka's Tower in the distance. There were only three stories still standing, and the rest of the remains lay north in a long intermingled pile that seemed to contain mostly stone and steel. The stone was the same shade of gray as the handful of clouds in the sky with the sunset, just as she remembered it to be. The steel was a deep brown hue, with some pieces starting to rust.

Seeing the tower inevitably reminded her of its creator. She tensed as she recalled the sound of Kefka's boisterous laugh and his eyes full of malice. She tried to guide her thoughts to more pleasant topics, but couldn't stop thinking about that man cackling atop his wonky throne, spouting off about being a god. He was close, though; he had nearly been successful at ruling the world. However, it wasn't a great feat considering the amount of magic he had at his disposal. Anybody could have ruled the world if they had the Triad in their control.

And now she was back to where she had last seen him, where they had killed him. This was also the place she used to call home, the city-state of Vector. It was the land of machinery and propaganda. Now it was ruins. _Welcome home_ , she thought bitterly to herself.

She finally escaped the oppressive Ghestahlian regime she had been born into, but she definitely paid a price; she had lost people she didn't want to lose. Cid. General Leo. Maybe if she done _something_ different, their lives would have been sent on a different trajectory. Especially in Cid's case; she still shouldered the blame for his passing. Maybe if she had looked more thoroughly, she could have found some better medicinal herbs for him on that island...she tried to quell these thoughts, but failed. Thinking about them seemed easier than trying to let them go and forgive herself. Forgiveness would involve less suffering, and would therefore not be enough to atone for her wrongdoings.

\---

 _Around pretty women we fall apart_ : Locke had been such an idiot for saying that. When he'd realized what he had said, he tried hard to let the embarrassment roll off his shoulders, but given the chance to think, he wanted to kick himself for that one. Of course it was true that he found Celes attractive. But that didn't mean he'd had to _say_ it aloud, especially to her. Flirting with her was unpredictable; she had an innocence and inexperience about her, similar to Terra, but unlike Terra, she had an anger in her as well. He couldn't remember a time when she had a positive reaction to flirting.

He was doing his best to be calm in conversation, but deep down he was excited to see her again. During his lonely days spelunking, he often wondered how about she was doing. He had heard a lot about how war affected a person back in Kolighen. His friend Dwight was a drunkard, kicked out by his wife when he took to alcohol instead of working. Dwight was a friendly man, but he would become distracted often. He would always later shrug and say he was "just thinking about the war". He had served as a soldier for five years and told Locke it was common for him to have nightmares related to his service about once a week; he had been on the front lines fighting against Zozo and had killed an upwards of ten men. He valued life so much so each murder haunted him.

While Celes was definitely not as sensitive as Dwight, he had known too much about her campaign that destroyed much of the city-state of Maranda. Usually, she kept her emotions in check very well (perhaps too well, he thought). Now that the fighting was over, would she adjust and find her niche in the world, or fall apart?

In fact, she was so good at hiding pain, her moments of melancholy were hard to catch. Throughout the years, he had made an effort to read her body language. The signs that showed she wasn't doing okay were too subtle to most people to catch: A sigh here, a quiet moment there. However, it was extremely common for her to be quiet even when she was doing well, so perhaps that wasn't much of a sign as it was a personality trait.

Looking at her from across the campfire, it seemed like there were a lot of unpleasant gears turning in her head. Her eyes stared intently at the main part of the ruins as her eyelids narrowed.  Celes was always too much inside her own head, Locke thought. Whatever she was thinking about, it probably wasn't good. Maybe he could help her get over the things that were bothering her, whatever they were. But that was probably a fool's wish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading. I have edited the prologue and chapter 1 in order to avoid inconsistencies later.


End file.
